Cell Death and Differentiation (2012) 19, 2051–2052 & 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved 1350-9047/12 www.nature.com/cdd Book Review Minute genius: A tribute to the role of Italy in the development of science

Cell Death and Differentiation (2012) 19, 2051–2052; doi:10.1038/cdd.2012.120

Ingegni Minuti, by Lucio Russo and Emanuela Santoni Feltrineli Publisher, Rome, January 2011. EAN 9788807104633. 509 pp.; 30.00 h

In a recent book, ‘Ingegni minuti’, Lucio Russo and Emanuela Ingegni Minuti is full of similar interesting observations, Santoni describe the development of science in Italy and the which may help explain many aspects of the status of science global contribution of Italian scientists in plain, non-academic today in Italy and also emphasise the role of scientists in the language. The authors, a university professor of Probability unification of the country. A major point is the historic Theory and a high school teacher, start by trying to give a separation between research and industry. Until now the definition of science to distinguish it from other fields of human contribution of industry in supporting science both politically knowledge. They define science as ‘an ensemble of knowl- and economically falls well below that of other developed edge formed during several centuries that, though variable in countries. The book also reveals that an ‘Italian’ scientific content and methods, yet shares some fundamental features community was present and operating well before political that allow it to be distinguished from other cultural issues. unification (1860). Scientists from different parts of the country Moreover science implies theories which have an internal logic and an explicit, testable relationship with the real world’. Further, they acknowledge the ever-present risk in writing a history of science, which is to be caught in the so-called ‘foundation myth’, which assigns epochal discoveries to a single ‘great genius’ coming out of nowhere. Instead, they demonstrate that a discovery commonly attributed to a single scientist is due to a chain of partial observations and ideas from a number of sources. The achievement of the individual is to absorb these apparently disparate concepts by osmosis and to synthesise them into a unique theory or product. In the Italian context, the book emphasises two particular features. First, after the Dark Ages and during the Renais- sance, there was intense interaction between artists and scientists, and, indeed, the two activities were often mani- fested in the same person. Many examples are reported in the book, such as Piero della Francesca and his fellow Luca Pacioli, or Leon Battista Alberti, Giovanni Dondi (Figure 1) together with the less known Agostino Scilla, not to speak, of course, of Leonardo da Vinci. Another historical feature of Italian science has been the influence of the Catholic Church. Indeed, and contrary to other European countries, the Italian universities were forbidden from hosting Theological Faculties, a rule that still applies today. Therefore, in Italy, the ‘basic’ sciences, like mathematics, physics and even astronomy, were cultivated mainly inside the Faculties of Medicine. In many other countries, these fell within the Faculty of Arts which, because of their association with the Theological Faculty, brought the obvious outcomes in terms of bias and restrictions on free enquiry. Thus, the Italian physicians were acquainted with the liberal arts of Trivium (grammar, dialectics and rhetoric) and of Quadrivium (arithmetic, geome- try, astronomy and music). In particular, Italy already had a long- standing tradition in this field with the famous Medical School of Figure 1 Astrario of Dondi (1330–1389), Padua, reproducing the star Salerno (Scuola Medica Salernitana). movement, and hence ‘avoiding’ experimental observation. Book Review 2052

were in continuous contact and, very early (from the 16th of a general and of a subject index makes it sometimes difficult century), already communicated with each other in Italian or to navigate and find the information needed. rather in Tuscan, which was then the most widespread In conclusion, Ingegni Minuti is a highly recommended ‘vulgar’ language. Finally, and peculiar to today’s Italian reference work for anyone interested in the development of academy, the authors report that the interuniversity mobility in science, in which Italy has historically made such a major the 16th and 17th century was proportionally much higher contribution. This outstanding contribution is partly because of than nowadays. particular geographic location of the country and to its ability to Two more aspects of this book deserve mention. When take advantage of the scientific contents of ancient Greek speaking of the Italian contribution to scientific development, manuscripts, first collected and translated in Italy by Greek Russo and Santoni by no means restrict their history to Italian- refugees mainly after the fall of Byzantium. Thus, the flow of born scientists. Instead they emphasise the contribution of scientific achievements was brought to the modern era foreigners to the Italian scientific milieu in the past. Just to through a further channel besides the well-known role of Arab mention a few, the famous anatomist Andrea Vesalio was scholars, as already discussed by Lucio Russo in a previous born in Flanders and, after studying in Louvain and Paris, book ‘The forgotten revolution’, which in 2004 deserved a became professor of Medicine at the University of Padua. comment in the Nature. Another example is that of the Danish scientist and priest Niels Stensen better known as Niccolo` Stenone, whose studies on Conflict of Interest fossils in Tuscany opened the new fields of geology and The author declares no conflict of interest. palaeontology. In contrast, the work of Italians outside the borders of the country is not considered here; for example, the accomplish- A Finazzi-Agro´*,1 ments of the mathematician Giuseppe Ludovico Lagrangia, 1 born and educated in Turin and universally known as Joseph- Department of Experimental Medicine and Surgery, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy Louis Lagrange, and those of the physicist Enrico Fermi, after his enforced emigration from Italy. *Corresponding author: A Finazzi-Agro´, Department of Experimental Medicine A thorough bibliography is given at the end of the book, and Surgery, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy. together with an analytical index of names. However, the lack E-mail: fi[email protected]

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